Wednesday, February 27, 2013

WASHINGTON, DC.- Combining rebellion, scientific precision, beauty, and imagination, the Pre-Raphaelites created art that shocked 19th-century Britain. On view from February 17 through May 19, 2013, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington—the sole U.S. venue—Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Art and Design, 1848–1900 is the first major survey of the art of the Pre-Raphaelites to be shown in the United States.

The exhibition features some 130 paintings, sculptures, photography, works on paper, and decorative art objects that reflect the ideals of Britain's first modern art movement. "The Pre-Raphaelites rejected the rigid rules for painting that prevailed at the dawn of the Victorian era to launch Britain's first avant-garde movement," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "We are thrilled to present this rare exhibition to our audiences and grateful to lenders, both public and private, as well as our generous sponsors. Notably, we have received a generous amount of loans from Tate Britain and the Birmingham Museums Trust in the United Kingdom." The Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB) was founded in London in September 1848 at a turbulent time of political and social change. Many Victorians felt that beauty and spirituality had been lost amid industrialization. The leading members of the PRB were the painters John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt, young students at the Royal Academy of Arts. They all believed that art had become decadent, and rejected their teachers' belief that the Italian artist Raphael (1483–1520) represented the pinnacle of aesthetic achievement. Instead, they looked to medieval and early Renaissance art for inspiration. Whether painting subjects from Shakespeare or the Bible, landscapes of the Alps, or the view from a back window, the Pre-Raphaelites brought a new sincerity and intensity to British art. The exhibition is organized into eight themes: Beginnings: The Pre-Raphaelites were both historical and modern in their approach. While they borrowed from the art of previous centuries, they also listened to critic John Ruskin's call to observe nature and represent its forms faithfully. In balancing the past with the world they saw before them, the Pre-Raphaelites crafted a modern aesthetic. Some of their important early works—such as Hunt's Valentine rescuing Sylvia from Proteus—Two Gentlemen of Verona (Act V, Scene iv) (1850–1851) and Millais's Christ in the House of His Parents (The Carpenter's Shop) (1849–1850)—reveal the emergence of this new style. History: Dramatic narratives from the Bible, classical mythology, literature, or world history had dominated European art since the establishment of art academies in the 17th century. The Pre-Raphaelites rejected these grand narratives to focus on intimate human relationships. Millais set the standard, adopting a precise style and drawing from British history and popular operas while emphasizing accuracy of dress and settings. The results—seen in A Huguenot, on Saint Bartholomew's Day, Refusing to Shield Himself from Danger by Wearing the Roman Catholic Badge (1851–1852) and The Order of Release, 1746 (1852–1853)—defied convention, provoked critics, and entranced audiences. Literature and Medievalism: Pre-Raphaelitism was also a literary movement. The artists took subjects from Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, and other medieval tales, as in Millais's beloved painting Ophelia (1851–1852). Several wrote poetry, including Rossetti, who with Elizabeth Siddall (who served as Rossetti's muse, model, lover, and eventually wife) created intensely colored, intricate watercolors based on medieval manuscript illumination and themes of chivalric love, seen in his The Wedding of Saint George and the Princess Sabra (1857). Soon Rossetti's younger followers Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris incorporated medieval subjects in their designs for furniture, stained glass, and other decorative arts. Salvation: The Pre-Raphaelites addressed morality and salvation in subjects drawn from both religion and modern life. Religious and moral thinking permeated everyday life, whether in regard to ideas of class and society, relationships between the sexes, or ideals of domesticity, which they examined in works such as Hunt's The Awakening Conscience (1853–1854) and Ford Madox Brown's Work (1863). Rejecting traditional religious imagery, the Pre-Raphaelites painted biblical scenes with unprecedented realism. Hunt was so committed to truthful representation that he traveled to the Holy Land, where he painted the actual settings of biblical events, seen in The Shadow of Death (1870–1873). Nature: The Pre-Raphaelite artists developed a fresh and precise method of transcribing the natural world in oil paint, based on direct, up-close observation and working out of doors. At a time of debates about evolution and the history of the earth (Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published in 1859), Pre-Raphaelite landscape paintings reflected the artists' interest in the natural sciences, geology, botany, meteorology, and even astronomy. Groundbreaking works such as Brown's An English Autumn Afternoon, Hampstead—Scenery in 1853 (1852–1855) and "The Pretty Baa-Lambs" (1851–1859) newly emphasized rendering precise detail and natural light. Beauty: Around 1860, the Pre-Raphaelites turned away from realist depictions of history, literature, modern society, religious themes, and nature scenes to explore the purely aesthetic possibilities of painting. The female face and body became the most important subjects, in erotically charged works that had little precedent. Beauty came to be valued more highly than truth, as Pre-Raphaelitism slowly shifted into the Aesthetic Movement. Rossetti was the dominant force as his work became more sensuous in style and subject, seen in Bocca Baciata (1859), Beata Beatrix (c. 1864–1870), and Lady Lilith (1866–1868, altered 1872–1873). Paradise–Decorative Arts: Inspired by the Pre-Raphaelites and the medieval past, Morris established a decorative arts firm in 1861 with partners Rossetti, Brown, and Burne-Jones. In 1875 Morris reorganized the company under his sole direction as Morris & Co. aiming to erase the distinction between the fine and applied arts. The firm produced tiles, furniture, embroidery, stained glass, printed and woven textiles, carpets, and tapestries for both ecclesiastical and domestic interiors. Several examples are on view, from stained glass, furniture painted with medievalized themes, and a three-fold screen with embroidered panels of heroic women on loan from Castle Howard, to popular tile, textile, and wallpaper designs, including the iconic Strawberry Thief (1883). In the last decade of his life, Morris founded the Kelmscott Press for the production of high-quality, hand-printed books. This room also includes two stunning tapestries designed by Burne-Jones and Morris from the series based on the Arthurian story of the Holy Grail. Mythologies: Late Pre-Raphaelite paintings reflect a fascination with the world of myth and legend. Rossetti and Burne-Jones embraced imagination and symbolism, focusing on the human figure frozen in a drama. Both found inspiration in Renaissance art after Raphael, concentrating on sensuous Venetian color and the sculptural forms of Michelangelo, seen in Rossetti's La Pia (1868–1881) and Burne-Jones' Perseus series (1885–1888). Hunt adhered more closely to the initial realist Pre-Raphaelite style, which he brought to his late masterpiece, The Lady of Shalott (c.1888–1905).

Friday, February 1, 2013

NASHVILLE, TN.- Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts will open at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts on February 1, 2013. Drawn entirely from the superb collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, this exhibition presents works of the great Dutch masters including Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jacob van Ruisdael and Jan Steen, along with related decorative arts. Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age will remain on view in the Frist Center’s Ingram Gallery through May 19, 2013. Comprised of 73 paintings and 16 decorative arts, the exhibition sets the work of the great Dutch masters within the larger social, religious and political context of the Dutch Golden Age. Together these works provide a stunning survey of the art produced in the 17th century in the newly independent and prosperous Dutch Republic. “We are pleased to have the opportunity to bring to the Frist Center an exhibition entirely devoted to 17th century Dutch painting that has been selected from one of the largest collections of Dutch art outside of the Netherlands,” Frist Center Executive Director Susan Edwards remarks. “In addition to presenting works of exceptional beauty by numerous Dutch masters, the exhibition offers rare insight into the social and political climate of this beloved era in art history.” “We are grateful to the H.G. Hill Realty Company for their generosity as our Gold Sponsor for Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts,” says Dr. Edwards. “With their support, we are able to present some of the finest Dutch Golden Age paintings at the Frist Center and facilitate more opportunities for education and engagement.” “As a family owned and operated company in Nashville for five generations, we are extremely invested in supporting and furthering our community,” says Wentworth Caldwell, Jr., Chairman of the H. G. Hill Company. “To be able to bring some of the great art of the world to Middle Tennessee and, in turn, the many educational and community outreach opportunities it affords is a joy for us.” The exhibition will open with a gallery focusing on Rembrandt, the most innovative, versatile and influential Dutch artist of the 17th century. “Rembrandt did not specialize in any one kind of painting, which distinguishes him from his contemporaries,” explains Frist Center Curator Trinita Kennedy. “His vast production of paintings ranges across virtually every thematic category: genre, history painting, landscape, portraiture and still life. He was highly inventive and his work has never lost its extraordinary appeal.” The first gallery will also present works by Rembrandt’s teacher, the Amsterdam painter Pieter Lastman, and Rembrandt’s own students and followers. Rembrandt was famous in his own day and ran an important workshop. While his exact number of pupils is unknown, it may have been as many as 40 to 50. “Rembrandt’s students copied and collaborated on his paintings and it can be difficult to distinguish their work from his own,” Kennedy observes. “Since the early 19th century, each generation of art historians has sought to define what was painted by Rembrandt, his pupils, his workshop, his circle and his followers. In this exhibition, we get to see how scholars are presently interpreting Rembrandt’s body of work.” After the opening gallery with works by Rembrandt and his circle, the rest of the paintings in the exhibition will be organized thematically, with galleries dedicated to: Portraiture: Faces of the Dutch Golden Age (featuring works by Frans Hals); Biblical Histories: The Impact of Calvinism on Religious Art in the Dutch Republic (Leonaert Bramer); Dutch Peasant Scenes and the Perils of Debauchery (Jan Steen); Domestic Interiors: Inner Worlds of the Dutch Republic (Pieter de Hooch, Gerard Ter Borch); Still-Life Painting: The World in Objects (Willem Kalf; Rachel Ruysch); Dutch Architectural Painting: Cityscapes and Church Interiors (Emmanuel de Witte); Marine Painting and the Global Dutch Economy (Ludolf Backhuysen); and Dutch Landscapes: Local Scenery and Pride of Place (Jacob van Ruisdael).

Thursday, January 10, 2013

AMSTERDAM.- The most important museum opening in 2013 is the Grand Opening of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on 13 April after a 10 year closure. The renovation, which has completely transformed and renewed the historic building, is one of the most significant ever undertaken by a museum. The re-opening provides an opportunity for a major representation of the museum’s world-famous collection, much of which has not been accessible to the public for a decade. Over 8,000 works of art will go on show telling the story of Dutch art and history, with masterpieces by artists including Frans Hals, Jan Steen, Johannes Vermeer and Rembrandt van Rijn. On a much smaller scale, the Ditchling Museum, which tells the story of a remarkable village and its community of 20th century artists and craftsmen, will open in Spring 2013. The museum has a unique collection of work by Eric Gill, Edward Johnson and others who came to Ditchling to live and work. London will see the opening of a new not-for-profit art space, The Dairy, launched by leading collectors, Frank Cohen and Nicolai Frahm in Spring 2013. The 12,500 sq ft warehouse was the former milk depot for Express Dairies, and its unique,raw, industrial spaces with high ceilings and skylights will provide exceptional exhibition space for art. The programme will include curated exhibitions drawing on Frank Cohen and Nicolai Frahm’s collections, as well as incorporating loans from galleries, artists and international collectors. In Britain the most important opening in May 2013 will be Tate Britain’s newly refurbished galleries with a major new chronological hang of the Collection, the most important holding of British art in the world. This will be followed in October 2013 by the completion and opening of the new building development at Tate Britain. The project opens up the new entrance and lower floors as well as three floors of the stunning domed atrium at the heart of the gallery creating much-needed learning studios and public spaces in order to meet growing demand. In the summer, the Serpentine will open its new space, the Serpentine Sackler Gallery with an exciting programme showcasing the latest exhibitions and commissions. Situated a stone’s throw from the Serpentine Gallery in Kensington Gardens, the project brings the listed Magazine building into public use for the first time in its 206-year history, providing and new cultural destination and landmark for London. The designer for the project is Pritzker-prize winning architect, Zaha Hadid. At the end of the year, Rem Koolhaas’s new building for the Garage will open in Gorky Park in Moscow. Garage Gorky Park is located in the Park’s famous 1960s Vremena Goda (Four Seasons) restaurant, which has been newly renovated after remaining derelict for more than two decades. The new museum will present a programme of temporary exhibitions, and the building includes exhibition galleries, a creative centre for children, shop, café, auditorium and offices. Also due to open in 2013 is the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, Canada, dedicated to the acquisition, preservation and display of artefacts and works of art relating to the intellectual, cultural, artistic and religious heritage of Islamic communities. The Museum collection contains over one thousand artefacts and artworks spanning over one thousand years of history, which present an overview of the artistic accomplishments of Muslim civilisations from the Iberian Peninsula to China. Designed by Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki, the museum features galleries, an auditorium, a reference library, multimedia centre, and education spaces situated around a central courtyard. Exhibition Openings The Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham marks its 80th anniversary by embarking on a year-long programme of special exhibitions, displays and concerts. The programme opens with an exhibition focusing on the Barber’s founder, Portrait of a Lady: The Life and Passions of Lady Barber (to 24 February 2013). In May 2013, the exhibition, About Face: European Old Master Portraits from National Collections (16 May – 1 September 2013) will bring to the Barber outstanding portraits from the National Gallery by Rembrandt, Goya and Cézanne, among others, which will be displayed alongside works from the Barber of comparable date and scale, but contrasting style, subject or approach. Also in May, Birth of A Collection: The Barber Institute of Fine Arts and the National Gallery (22 May - 1 September 2013) will see the first 12 paintings acquired for the Barber galleries – including masterpieces by Simone Martini, Cima, Poussin, Turner, Manet and Monet – displayed at the National Gallery in London. In the early new year, a major exhibition focusing on Robert Rauschenberg’s Jammers, silk wall and floor works will go on show at Gagosian (February/March 2013). The Jammers cycle originated in 1975 and draws inspiration from the trip Rauschenberg made in May 1975 to the to the textile centre Ahmedabad in India where the locals made their handmade paper. In March, William Turnbull at Chatsworth (10 March – 30 June 2013) presents a rare exhibition by one of Britain’s leading artist following his recent death. The exhibition will present large-scale works as well as paintings and drawings all shown in the spectacular setting of Chatsworth House. Moore Rodin at the Henry Moore Foundation in Perry Green (28 March – 28 October 2013) is a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition which presents the work of Henry Moore and Auguste Rodin exhibited together in the rural landscapes of Perry Green where Henry Moore lived and worked. The exhibition will highlight the influence of Rodin’s work on Moore and draw new parallels between two of the world’s most celebrated sculptors. In April Hans Ulrich-Obrist will curate an exhibition in São Paulo Glass House, the former home of Brazilian modernist architect Lina Bo Bardi. Around 20 international artists and architects have been invited to create special projects in the house. The exhibition is the latest in a series of interventions in artists’ houses curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist. In April, Rachel Whiteread at Gagosian (April/May 2013) is an exhibition dedicated to the work of one of Britain’s foremost contemporary artists. Masterpieces from the Hermitage at Houghton (May – September 2013) is a unique exhibition in which masterpieces from the State HermitageMuseum in St Petersburg will be brought back to their original home at Houghton, one of Britain’s finest Palladian houses. The collection was originally brought together by Britain’s first prime minister, Robert Walpole (1676-1745), and sold to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, in 1779. The paintings have not been seen in Britain for over 230 years, and they will be shown in their original settings at Houghton, the Walpole ancestral home in Norfolk. One of the most famous art collections of eighteenth-century Europe, the exhibition will include masterpieces by Van Dyck, Poussin, Albani, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velazquez, Murillo and several others. Works of art from other public and private collections will also be on show, from institutions including the National Gallery in Washington, the Metropolitan Museum in New York, and several other Russian galleries. One of the highlights of the Venice Biennale at the end of May will be a major retrospective of the work of Anthony Caro at the Museo Correr presented in association with the British Council. The exhibition will provide a unique chance to see works by Britain’s greatest living sculptor in the historic setting of one of Venice’s most celebrated museums. Qatar Museums Authority will present the first major retrospective of the work of Damien Hirst in the Middle East in Autumn 2013. The exhibition, curated by Francesco Bonami, will be staged in the spectacular setting of Al Riwaq Doha Exhibition Space. A major new publication will be issued to coincide with the exhibition including essays by leading Arab writers.

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s presents the sale of Albrecht Dürer Masterpieces from a Private Collection as part of Old Masters Week. The sale, which will take place 29 January, features 62 exceptional impressions by Albrecht Dürer, and constitutes one of the most important collections of his prints ever offered at auction. Encompassing a wide range of subject matter, both religious and secular, and mediums - engravings, woodcuts and etchings - the collection was amassed with the objective of adding only the very best examples. The sale is expected to realize in excess of $4.6 million. Melencolia I (estimate: $400,000-600,000), engraved in 1514, is one the most enigmatic images in the history of western art. The subject is probably an allegory of melancholy, but the details of its iconography have intrigued and inspired countless art historians and scholars. It contains symbols seen elsewhere in Dürer’s oeuvre, such as the sphere as a symbol of chance or fate from Nemesis (lot 26), the scales from Sol Iustitiae (lot 1), and the skull and the hour-glass, which appear as memento mori on the other two of the so-called ‘Master Prints’: Knight, Death and the Devil and Saint Jerome in his Study (lots 44 and 45). In the 16th century, the melancholic temperament was associated with genius and the pursuit of knowledge. If Saint Jerome and Melencolia I are indeed companion pieces, and Saint Jerome represents the knowledge of texts, then Melencolia I stands for a different, new kind of knowledge - that of empirical, applied science. The ruler, the scale and the pair of compasses are all measuring devices, instruments for the examination of nature. For Dürer, the observation and comprehension of the natural world was the basis of art. Considering that the artists of the Renaissance, with Leonardo and Dürer as prime examples, saw themselves as artists as well as scientists, then Melencolia I might be described as a secret self-portrait. Knight, Death and the Devil (estimate: $500,000-700,000), 1513, depicts a knight in armor on his magnificent charger making his way through a rocky gorge. Two figures stand by the wayside, as if emerging from the rocks; King Death with snakes winding through his crown, astride an old mare, holding an hourglass; and a monstrous devil standing on his hoofs, holding a pike. Countless attempts have been made to identify the central figure, which Dürer simply referred to as der Reuther (‘the rider’). Suggestions have included emperor, pope, heretic, Germanic hero and local patrician. None of the potential candidates, either historical or mythological, have been substantiated. The knight as robber baron - a genuine threat in the days of Dürer - is lacking visual evidence. Whatever his true identity, Dürer’s rider is clearly cast in the heroic mold, a model of courage and moral strength, the Christian Knight, who does not fear Death or the Devil. Dated 1514, Saint Jerome in his Study (estimate: $300,000-500,000) was engraved one year after Knight, Death and the Devil (lot 44), and like the earlier print it is full of reminders of death: the human skull on the window ledge, the crucifix on the desk, the candle and the hour glass, while the fly whisk can be read as a reference to the devil. Together with Melencolia I (lot 42) these three engravings have long been known as the ‘Master Prints’. The term is appropriate as with these prints Dürer undoubtedly reached the height of his capacities as an engraver. Aside from their technical excellence, the prints are also connected by their near-identical format and their concentration on a single figure in a highly complex, richly symbolic environment. If, as has been suggested, they represent the three different modes of virtuous living, Saint Jerome depicts the lonely, quiet life of the man of letters. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (estimate: $120,000-180,000), is arguably the most dramatic and dynamic of all of Dürer’s compositions. Standing before this work, the viewer witnesses the four horsemen as they burst out of heaven, one after the other, and thunder over the earth. The mouth of hell opens up below, devouring a ‘lord of the earth’ - perhaps a bishop or king. Everything conveys a sense of violence and rupture. Erwin Panofsky observed that the three horses in the air are shown at different intervals of their galloping movement, thereby creating the impression of time and continuity, not unlike Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic recordings of bodies in motion almost five hundred years later. The Rhinoceros (estimate: $100,000-150,000) was cut in 1515, the year that the first rhinoceros was seen in Europe since Antiquity. Having never seen a rhinoceros, Dürer learned of it from a sketch and description sent by Valentin Ferdinand, a Moravian printer who had settled in Lisbon, to a friend in Nuremberg. Dürer’s depiction, which might pass for a terrible war machine, had tremendous impact. The woodblock was printed in no fewer than eight editions, seven of which were posthumous. Around 1620 it was printed in Amsterdam together with a tone block, producing a chiaroscuro woodcut like the portrait of Ulrich Varnbüler (lot 61). The Rhinoceros served as the model for illustrations of the species as late as the end of the eighteenth century. Although presumably printed in fairly large numbers very few survive to this day, and impressions from the first edition are exceptionally rare.

NEW YORK, NY.-
Christie’s presents the sale of Albrecht Dürer Masterpieces from a
Private Collection as part of Old Masters Week. The sale, which will
take place 29 January, features 62 exceptional impressions by Albrecht
Dürer, and constitutes one of the most important collections of his
prints ever offered at auction. Encompassing a wide range of subject
matter, both religious and secular, and mediums - engravings, woodcuts
and etchings - the collection was amassed with the objective of adding
only the very best examples. The sale is expected to realize in excess
of $4.6 million.
Melencolia I (estimate: $400,000-600,000), engraved in 1514, is one the
most enigmatic images in the history of western art. The subject is
probably an allegory of melancholy, but the details of its iconography
have intrigued and inspired countless art historians and scholars. It
contains symbols seen elsewhere in Dürer’s oeuvre, such as the sphere as
a symbol of chance or fate from Nemesis (lot 26), the scales from Sol
Iustitiae (lot 1), and the skull and the hour-glass, which appear as
memento mori on the other two of the so-called ‘Master Prints’: Knight,
Death and the Devil and Saint Jerome in his Study (lots 44 and 45).
In the 16th century, the melancholic temperament was associated with
genius and the pursuit of knowledge. If Saint Jerome and Melencolia I
are indeed companion pieces, and Saint Jerome represents the knowledge
of texts, then Melencolia I stands for a different, new kind of
knowledge - that of empirical, applied science. The ruler, the scale and
the pair of compasses are all measuring devices, instruments for the
examination of nature. For Dürer, the observation and comprehension of
the natural world was the basis of art. Considering that the artists of
the Renaissance, with Leonardo and Dürer as prime examples, saw
themselves as artists as well as scientists, then Melencolia I might be
described as a secret self-portrait.
Knight, Death and the Devil (estimate: $500,000-700,000), 1513, depicts a
knight in armor on his magnificent charger making his way through a
rocky gorge. Two figures stand by the wayside, as if emerging from the
rocks; King Death with snakes winding through his crown, astride an old
mare, holding an hourglass; and a monstrous devil standing on his hoofs,
holding a pike. Countless attempts have been made to identify the
central figure, which Dürer simply referred to as der Reuther (‘the
rider’). Suggestions have included emperor, pope, heretic, Germanic hero
and local patrician. None of the potential candidates, either
historical or mythological, have been substantiated. The knight as
robber baron - a genuine threat in the days of Dürer - is lacking visual
evidence. Whatever his true identity, Dürer’s rider is clearly cast in
the heroic mold, a model of courage and moral strength, the Christian
Knight, who does not fear Death or the Devil.
Dated 1514, Saint Jerome in his Study (estimate: $300,000-500,000) was
engraved one year after Knight, Death and the Devil (lot 44), and like
the earlier print it is full of reminders of death: the human skull on
the window ledge, the crucifix on the desk, the candle and the hour
glass, while the fly whisk can be read as a reference to the devil.
Together with Melencolia I (lot 42) these three engravings have long
been known as the ‘Master Prints’. The term is appropriate as with these
prints Dürer undoubtedly reached the height of his capacities as an
engraver. Aside from their technical excellence, the prints are also
connected by their near-identical format and their concentration on a
single figure in a highly complex, richly symbolic environment. If, as
has been suggested, they represent the three different modes of virtuous
living, Saint Jerome depicts the lonely, quiet life of the man of
letters.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (estimate: $120,000-180,000), is
arguably the most dramatic and dynamic of all of Dürer’s compositions.
Standing before this work, the viewer witnesses the four horsemen as
they burst out of heaven, one after the other, and thunder over the
earth. The mouth of hell opens up below, devouring a ‘lord of the earth’
- perhaps a bishop or king. Everything conveys a sense of violence and
rupture. Erwin Panofsky observed that the three horses in the air are
shown at different intervals of their galloping movement, thereby
creating the impression of time and continuity, not unlike Eadweard
Muybridge’s photographic recordings of bodies in motion almost five
hundred years later.
The Rhinoceros (estimate: $100,000-150,000) was cut in 1515, the year
that the first rhinoceros was seen in Europe since Antiquity. Having
never seen a rhinoceros, Dürer learned of it from a sketch and
description sent by Valentin Ferdinand, a Moravian printer who had
settled in Lisbon, to a friend in Nuremberg. Dürer’s depiction, which
might pass for a terrible war machine, had tremendous impact. The
woodblock was printed in no fewer than eight editions, seven of which
were posthumous. Around 1620 it was printed in Amsterdam together with a
tone block, producing a chiaroscuro woodcut like the portrait of Ulrich
Varnbüler (lot 61). The Rhinoceros served as the model for
illustrations of the species as late as the end of the eighteenth
century. Although presumably printed in fairly large numbers very few
survive to this day, and impressions from the first edition are
exceptionally rare.